Calls for rethink on radiology rebate

A Hunter radiologist says radiology services in Australia are chronically underfunded and private patients are footing the bill.

Hunter region cancer patients, health care groups and radiologists will meet in Cardiff today to call on the Federal Government to increase funding for diagnostic radiology services.

Todd Forbes of Hunter Group Imaging says the rebate has not been adjusted for 12 years, despite costs increasing by up to 30 per cent.

He says the Medicare rebate for a single diagnostic service falls around $77 short of the actual cost.

He says this can add up to a significant amount for a cancer patient, and he is calling on the Government to increase the rebate.

"To really make the government try and stand up and listen to what we're saying," he said.

"These vital services, community based medical diagnostic services that people use every day, they're really getting priced to the point where they're out of access to many people who can't afford to fit the bill."

He says his practice bulk-bills most patients, but the cost-gap is being shifted to private patients.

"We made a conscious decision, and it's a long standing decision, to bulk bill certain community groups, because we know that they wouldn't be able to afford to have their imaging done if we didn't bulk-bill it.

"But what that's doing is creating a burden on the private patients, the ones that we don't bulk bill."

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